June 29 (UPI) -- MLB has suspended Seattle Mariners left-hander Hector Santiago for 10 games after a foreign sticky substance was found on his glove during a game against the Chicago White Sox over the weekend.
Santiago becomes the first player ejected and suspended amid the league's crackdown on pitchers using sticky substances.
The 33-year-old Santiago is appealing the 10-game suspension, which was handed down by MLB senior vice president Michael Hill on Tuesday. Santiago is eligible to play Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
If the suspension is upheld, the Mariners will be unable to fill Santiago's roster spot during the ban.
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Santiago was thrown out of the Mariners' 3-2 win over the White Sox on Sunday. He later admitted to using rosin on his glove side, which is a violation of Major League Baseball's new foreign-substance rule.
"It was rosin and rosin is behind the pitcher's mound, so it's not foreign. It's not a foreign substance," Mariners manager Scott Servais told reporters Tuesday. "So I am surprised, to some degree.
"But I understand what Major League Baseball is trying to do, they're trying to create a level playing field and understand why they decided to do this in the middle of the season."
The ejection occurred in the fifth inning as Santiago was being removed from the game. As he walked to the dugout, umpires checked him for foreign substances, and they tossed him after feeling something sticky on the inside of the glove.
Santiago, who made his Mariners debut on June 1, started this season at the Triple-A level. He has a 1-1 record and 2.65 ERA over nine appearances in 2021.
In 266 career games with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets and Mariners, Santiago has compiled a 48-51 record and 4.12 ERA.
